Legacy of Hatred Nov Chapter 255: Assortment

Chapter 255: Assortnt

Grace had countless things to plan, places to visit, and people to contact during that relatively short window, enough to overwhelm any sane person.

Yet, none of that ever touched Liam. His job was to salvage whatever he could from the unusable pile, aning he had no reason to move from the underground warehouse.

Rank 1 concoctions were hardly practice for Liam at that point. Extracting valuable properties and turning them into concentrates was even a lower branch of alchemy, so the job did little to improve his skills.

However, Liam finished going through the pile before the ti to depart arrived, so he spent those remaining weeks handling his own businesses, basically entering secluded training.

Also, Liam was standing next to a huge pile of ingredients. Many rank 1 ones were for the tournant and the products he had to concoct there, but everything else was his to purchase.

Actually, Grace’s smiles couldn’t be brighter than the tis when she returned to the warehouse, only to find that spirit stones had replaced so ingredients.

As incomprehensible as that creature was, she was quite easy to please.

Liam halved his finances again, but the results more than compensated for that.

It took over a week, and most of what Liam’s Master had left him in that specific field, but his cauldron eventually produced a rank 2 healing pill.

Liam even managed to concoct a rank 2 Qi-Recovery elixir afterward, but his focus on those broader alchemical fields ended there, reclaid by poison.

The idea Grace had ntioned ca to fruition quite easily. Liam watered down his venom, lowering its deadliness while transforming it into sothing else.

Instead of instant death, Liam created a liquid that caused a gradual one. According to his calculations, foundation experts who ingested it would last one day, while rooting experts up to a week, unless they resorted to other thods to delay the impending doom.

Liam also made an antidote he could use to control people with. If they wanted a cure for the slow venom, they would have to answer to him.

It was with so confidence that Liam accepted the thod’s validity, which had nothing to do with his social skills. He knew how hard concocting the antidote had been, highlighted by the fact that he had yet to find a cure for the pure venom his glands produced.

Another application of the rank 2 venom was harder to achieve, but not by much. Liam even felt extra motivated to succeed since the thod ca straight from his Master’s inheritance.

Liam inspected his rank 1 wooden knife, careful not to remove the sticky yellow powder he had coated it with. That poisonous layer also ca from a watered-down version of his rank 2 venom, weak enough not to damage the weapon, but strong enough for sothing else.

’Can this really improve magical items?’ Liam wondered. ’Alchemical Refinent isn’t sothing Master ever ntioned.’

Of course, since the thod ca from Horace Rauret’s inheritance, Liam trusted it. He was simply curious about that unknown application.

After all, the Alchemical Refinent involved coating magical items in stronger substances to improve their power and alter their nature, a field theoretically limited to formations.

The risks were also aplenty. If Liam used sothing too strong, the item would be damaged or break directly. It was why he had limited the test to the knife for now.

’Nothing is absolute in the cultivation world,’ Liam recalled, ’And alchemy is the perfect tool to defy the rules set by the Heavens.’

Liam didn’t know if his Master had been the one to invent the Alchemical Refinent, but he saw the deeper issue. Skills alone weren’t enough. Imagination also had to play a part.

Just like Grace’s suggestion had made Liam consider a previously unthinkable application of his poison, many alchemical fields could still be undiscovered, waiting for soone bold enough to imagine them.

’I must understand life more,’ Liam realized, ’And I can’t do that in isolation.’

While riskier, the path toward higher levels of alchemical greatness required personal growth. Liam had seen that improvent after kissing lissa and leaving the Pale Moon Sect.

’There are levels of greatness no amount of practice, study, or imitation can achieve,’ Liam recalled. ’It’s a rciless climb that demands everything you have.’

The math was straightforward. The more Liam had or was, the better results his imrsion could produce, and a broader life was one of the keys to getting there.

’When will I beco so great?’ Liam sighed internally, storing the knife, materializing two green jades instead.

One of the jades carried Horace’s inheritance, while the other was sothing Grace had delivered the first ti she had returned to the warehouse.

Liam only had to think for his jade to record information, which he did while using his Master’s as a guideline. He noted down recipes, concoctions, and personal considerations like his Master had done, studying at the sa ti.

Afterward, Liam stored both jades and summoned his pipe, smoking while his attention went to the space-ring’s insides.

Liam’s assortnt of rank 2 ingredients had increased since they had made up the bulk of his recent purchases. They also were in decent variety, enabling and preparing for much.

Honestly, Liam was almost better off than how he had started, at least in so fields, except for the most glaring issue, the countdown he couldn’t stop, no matter what he did.

’I only have a couple of weeks left on my current batch,’ Liam calculated, ’And then enough ingredients for another month.’

Obviously, those calculations involved the poisonous powder, the one Liam kept smoking to nourish his cultivation, only to have lackluster results.

Liam moved his attention to his cultivation. The pulsating, reddish canvas filled his vision, as well as his core, spiritual roots, and minor roots.

It had been almost two months since Liam left the Pale Moon Sect, and he had fed his dantian nonstop in that period, either by eating or smoking the powder.

However, the improvent had been far from revolutionary. All ninety cracks had sprouted proper minor roots now, but they were nothing more than tiny protuberances, so only slightly bigger than others.

As for the other ten minor roots, they had grown, but not in any way Liam would deem aningful. He didn’t know how far they had to stretch to be fully developed, but that goal didn’t sound close.

’I can’t even finish developing one,’ Liam thought. ’How long will it take

to get to one hundred? Should I just improve the powder already?’

Of course, there had been noticeable improvents. Aside from feeling stronger, Liam’s cultivation could keep up with the high-grade circulation technique now. It still struggled when he went overboard, but it was nowhere close to when he was a foundation expert.

Ti and money were the issues. Liam didn’t know how long that process usually took. His Master’s inheritance only ntioned that it could last years, even at full speed, which ant he would need even longer or compensate for it with finances he didn’t have.

’The branching stage is still far away,’ Liam cursed, disappointed in himself, despite having no reason for that.

Unknowingly to Liam, his growth was already incredible, and not by the standards of lone cultivators.

Even an inner disciple like Joel had remained stuck for far longer than months, unable to do anything about it due to sheer lack of resources.

lissa had faced a similar problem, worsened by the fact that the bottleneck between stages stood in her way.

That was the norm. Cultivators often went through periods of drought, barely managing to prevent their dantians from withering.

Instead, Liam had never stopped growing. His improvents’ stability could make the most affluent cultivators envious. His cultivation’s insane requirents simply slowed down everything, deceiving him into thinking he was doing poorly.

Movent alerted Liam during the smoking session. Grace’s figure soon entered the warehouse, her face brightening when she saw its state.

It wasn’t just about finding that more spirit stones had replaced the pile of usable ingredients. The other had also shrunk considerably, reduced to nothing but a handful of boxes, with several flasks occupying the cleared area.

Grace didn’t hesitate to check the flasks. Each had wooden tablets hanging from them, carrying numbers Liam himself had written, representing the density of valuable properties they contained.

"Fellow Daoist, it’s always a pleasure doing business with you," Grace reverted to her rchant persona as the flasks disappeared at a wave of her hand, moving to the other pile to do the sa.

"Do you have a space-ring?" Liam couldn’t help but ask.

"I rely borrowed it from the Guild," Grace explained. "I can’t rely on my rchants for transportation anymore, can I?"

"Because you want to fire them only after we make profits at the tournant," Liam recalled sothing Grace had said.

"Exactly," Grace chuckled, elegantly walking toward Liam, only for him to sll her evident happy mood. "I have to disappoint many clients due to my shortage of wares anyway. It’s better to pair it with the news of new products."

Grace waved her hand again once she reached Liam, laying multiple inscribed strips of paper and a few tablets on the floor.

"These are the talismans you requested," Grace explained, "Including your half of the communicator. I had them specifically commissioned to avoid any risk of tampering."

Liam put the pipe aside and stored the cauldron to test the items. Most were to keep the variables in check when concocting in the open, but others had more striking effects.

As Liam poured his Qi into a blue stone tablet, cozy vapor blew out of it, enveloping his body and washing him and his cloak clean. It left him a bit wet, but a specific release of his energy dried him up.

’Convenient,’ Liam thought happily. Being dirty could ss with concoctions, and water truly wasn’t sothing he wanted to spend money on.

Still, Grace cleared her throat, claiming Liam’s attention. She was smiling, but he felt strangely in danger, forcing him to follow her gaze to the split black jade on the floor.

"Bind it and think of sothing to tell ," Grace suggested, sothing in her tone sounding like a threat.

Liam complied, binding the half-jade and pouring his Qi while asking a ntal question. ’When should we depart?’

Grace summoned an identical black jade in her hand, the other half, and sothing rang in Liam’s mind, like a faint tremor from the ntal connection from his just-bound item.

’Now,’ Liam heard Grace’s voice in his mind once he activated his jade. ’I have a carriage ready for us.’

Liam nodded, lifting his hood and turning to leave, only for another tremor to spread in his mind, making him resummon the half-jade.

’Don’t ever, ever lose this,’ Grace’s voice resounded in Liam’s brain again. ’I will chase you until the other end of the Kingdom otherwise.’

Liam slowly turned, only to find the sa wide, but sohow dangerous smile pointed at him.

"Shall we go, my dear William?" Grace invited, reaching Liam’s side. "Money is waiting. Now that I have you, I’ll make both of us filthy rich."